| Globally diarrhoeal diseases remain the leading cause of death among children under five years of age. This deduction was recently made by Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran.He was at the time responding to deliberations by Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, David Granger, who at the most recent sitting of Parliament brought a Motion to the National Assembly for the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry into a gastroenteritis outbreak in Region One earlier this year.But despite the wide-reaching threat of diarrhoeal diseases, the Minister asserted that his Ministry is in no way “attempting to use this as an excuse…it is a statement of fact.”Minister of Health, Dr Bheri Ramsaran.Moreover, he noted that anyone seeking to move a Motion to probe the gastroenteritis outbreak which affected the Kaituma and surrounding environs, must bear in mind that “sometimes once the disease starts it is the devil’s own job to fight it even in the best conditions.”Gastroenteritis is a medical condition characterised by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that involves both the stomach and the small intestine resulting in some combination of diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain and cramping.It has also been referred to as gastro, stomach bug, and stomach virus. Although unrelated to influenza it has also been called stomach flu and gastric flu. The outbreak earlier this year, which was reportedly caused by the presence of E. Coli, surfaced less than three years after one which occurred in Arakaka,Wholesale Jerseys, also in Region One, which claimed the lives of seven adults. And it was at least three children under the age of two that succumbed to the disease on the most recent occasion with more than 500 adults falling ill.In his attempt to amplify the known impact of the disease, the Minister explained that it is because of the weakened physiology of babies that they are most vulnerable. “They pick up things and don’t wash their hands…and because the hygiene there may not have been the best…the disease can be successful in ending their lives,” said the Minister.Similarly, he said the elderly are known to be vulnerable to the disease as their physiology too is likely to be weakened as well. But according to the Minister,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, “fortunately because we intervened we did not lose the older weakened folks.”The Minister added that the epidemiology of a disease does not start and finish “when we would have thought that it is over…there might even be a double dip…” he asserted.He stressed the importance of surveillance, adding that since diseases can be very capricious, the only way to manage them is through good surveillance. He said that the existing surveillance system of the Health Ministry is not only aimed at tracking childhood diseases or diarrhoeal diseases but also at other prevalent diseases such as malaria.The Minister said that the gastroenteritis outbreak earlier this year was one that saw the Ministry not only heightening its response in the affected areas but similar interest was shown to other areas as well.“Even after this incident,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, this unfortunate development that faded from the front pages and the media, the Ministry of Health was still sending teams out…Teams went to Kaituma…” he told the National Assembly.Chief Medical Officer,China Jerseys Free Shipping, Dr Shamdeo Persaud had insisted that it was through the Ministry’s surveillance system that the surge in gastroenteritis cases was observed. The surveillance system, he said, collects information on a weekly basis on all the surfacing syndromes.According to Dr Persaud although from the start of the year the situation was pretty much stable,Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping, it was around week six, that is, the second week of February that an increase in gastroenteritis type cases was noticed.On February 20, 2013, an evaluation was done by the Region and it was observed that the cases were clustered in a section of the locale of Sebai; hence a team from Georgetown was dispatched.It was soon discovered that the outbreak was linked to the water and soon after communities closer to Port Kaituma started to report an increased number of cases also.The Motion for the inquiry brought to the National Assembly in the name of the Opposition Leader is aimed at determining the cause of the outbreak, the conditions that existed in the Barima/Waini Region at the time and to look at the course and consequences.In presenting the Motion, which was accepted by the House, Granger alluded to the deduction of Dr Lisa Indar of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) that the public health challenge might not have had severe consequences had there been better data collection and early detection, a notion that was condemned by the Health Minister.The Opposition Leader also made reference to the need for the Inquiry to examine the public works as well as the public information aspects within the Region.Moreover,NFL Jerseys Cheap, he noted that an urgent appointment of a Commission of inquiry is crucial in order to seek a solution to what occurred with a view of ensuring that there is no such reoccurrence.He further alluded to the fact that the state of affairs is one that has been of a repetitive nature so much so that a previous Health Minister had indicated that between December and March there is always a rise in the number of gastroenteritis cases.“He (the Health Minister) pointed out that this is the deadliest period, the most dangerous period, in other words Mr Speaker, this is something that could have been anticipated because the previous Minister had a less political bend and was able to discern this pattern several years ago.”Granger was at the time referring to former Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy. |
